The Promises That I Keep
by MonkeyCherries
Summary: Following after Ch. 401 -- She never understood it. She would spend hours-on-end searching for a logical answer as to why it all happened. How it all happened... M for language


First fic! Took me a while to figure this one out. I hope most of you have heard that the hardest part about writing is to get the idea out there, but once it's out there it's easy from there on out. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, I'm sorry. I tend to do that a lot.

This is a Naruto fanfiction. I loved the manga, but the recent chapters have been losing it's luster. The only reason I continue reading it is because I'm waiting for the special pairing that Kishimoto mentioned when he first came out with the book. (Goddammit!) It's honestly taking too long for the whole battle to take place as well, for I am in dire need to see Sakura punch Sasuke to the moon. I still love the pairing though. 8D

Y-Yes ... I'm hopeless.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto like any other idiotic fanfiction writer.

* * *

Summary:

She never understood it. She would spend hours-on-end searching for a logical answer as to why it all happened. How it all happened. It didn't add up. So why was that Haruno Sakura was so obsessed with this problem currently hanging over her head? Because she had one chance. To change ... everything, which meant everything to her. And she wasn't going to let it go.

* * *

Chapter 1: Prologue

Have you ever felt like you were never able to meet up to what everyone expected of you?

Like nothing you ever did was good for yourself? Or anyone else? Like the simple excuse: 'I'm only human!' doesn't cut it. I feel like that a lot, honestly. I strive for acknowledgment. I push myself to the edge, hoping that someone will notice me; that I can feel that satisfied smile crawl up my features and try to hide it while I get a compliment. I survive on it. Ever since I had chosen my path from the beginning of my training, I did my best so that I could prove I was worth the life given to me when I had been born into this world.

But then at the end of the day, I would feel guilty for searching within everyone to even _give_ me that comment. I would scream at myself at how selfish I was being, How stupid and ugly I was, and that I could never be accepted by any of them.

It took me about five months after graduating from the Ninja Academy to finally get that through my thick forehead.

--

All I could think of was the buzzing of the fluorescent lights in the hallway outside of my pathetic office. Honestly! It might as well have been an oversized supplies closet. Actually... I take that back since the supply closet has an endless amount of shelves and tubes and... fridges. _Oh, screw it all. _Yep that was exactly how I was feeling about everything. Because I couldn't focus on the stupid folder before me. All I could hear were those damn lights and their buzzing. I finally gave up on my 'light' reading (I laugh at my sarcasm!) and rested my forehead down on the cool surface of my table. It had been a long day and the heat wasn't making anything better.

Then there came that noise. No. Not _that noise._ I could go through another Akatsuki member than have to face what was coming... down two hallways... towards me.

The simple click-clacking of a pair of black heels echoed throughout the hallways of the sterile hospital. Their fast pace was enough to tell anyone who had worked long enough -- or visited the hospital way too many times -- to stay clear of a certain Hokage...

Who was obviously not happy.

"Where is that damned girl?!"

Click-clack. Click-clack. Click-clack.

It was the _Jaws _melody of the so-called-peaceful building.

"Sakura Haruno!" The large-busted women burst through the glass door -- it banging against the wall harshly before closing itself once the blonde had marched in the small room. A slight crack formed in the plastered wall, making me make a mental note to fix that later for the next time my boss came storming into my office. "Sakura, why are you still here? You were supposed to be on vacation...!" She glanced at a calendar hanging on the wall behind me. "Since last Thursday!"

A groan was my only reply. I didn't even dare to look up at the steaming women as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I was too focused on the current file on recent cases of severe abominable pain.

"Don't you groan at me, young lady!" I heard Tsunade walk towards my small desk. She pulled the file out of my line of sight.

"B-bu-Tsunade-shishou!" I cried out in destress. "I was made a medical-nin for a reason: to help the SICK and WOUNDED!" I tried to focus my eyes on the Hokage, but the harsh light coming out from the hallways -- compared to my simple lamp that was sitting on my desk -- was blinding me.

"_I don't want to hear it, Sakura._"

It was that tone that made me wince inwardly. It was that no-more-of-this-nonsense-that-is-final tones.

"But Tsunade-shishou," I rubbed at the corner of my eyes. My voice cracked from not being used. "Give me just a few more hours." I grabbed my white coat off it's hook while making my way out of the see-through door. "I just need to go check on a few more patients." I ran a mental list over a few times. "The Takahashi's are expecting soon, and are due for an ultrasound. Then there's Tenten who just got a broken arm after stubbling on her recent mission and-"

Tsunade stopped my rambling by taking my face in between her two hands. With my lips pursed out forcefully I narrowed my eyes in the best glare I could manage without looking rediculous.

"Sakura," she said in a robotic tone -- sounding cold and monotone. "You need rest. You are such a machinist these days that I feel like you enjoy it when you live here in your office." She let go of my face before grabbing the coat that lay over my arm. "You're _18_, Sakura," she repremended. I began to mouth along with the speech that had been said to me too many times before. "You have a whole life ahead of you as a ninja, a young women, and a human being! Not some drone that does every beckon-call for _every_ injured person." Hung up my coat with a small smile tugging at her full lips. "I honestly think you need to get a life of your own, Sakura, or I might as well attach you to this hospital at the hip."

"Sakura-san, you have a few healing requests in room 80-" Shizune entered, stopping in mid-sentence. " ...7." The pampered pig, known as Tonton, entered happily, giving a pleasant 'Oink!' after sitting properly next to her master's feet.

"Shizune, tell the patients that Dr. Haruno is out for the day and won't be back for the next _three weeks_!"

"Three weeks!" I began to shout excuses. I was stopped silently with a meager hand raised. I bit my lip as a slight punishment for my childishness.

"Who are the patients, Shizune?" sighed the annoyed blonde.

"Eh? U-Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Shikamaru," was the response. A hopeful light gleamed in my eyes as I gave an unspoken plead to Shishou.

"What are the severity of their injuries?"

"A few minor cuts and a broken arm."

A sigh came out and that was my cue.

"Thank you, Tsunade-shishou!" I raced out the door. "I promise I'll start my vacation right after this." I called back. "I promise!"

"That girl is going to be the death of me if she keeps this up..."

"Amen to that, Hokage-sama."

"I feel like a few cups of sake after today's rounds."

"Right behind you."

And with that being said, the two exited the office with a small pig in red trotting behind them.

* * *

A/N: It is a very simple first chapter, yes. I made it like that for a reason. If you have an idea of what this story/plot is going to be from the summary then please don't post it all over the reviews. Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to get the next chapter in by next week.

I promise that it will be a lot longer than this one.

Signing Out

MC


End file.
